We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our websites. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to recieve all cookies from Peterborough City Council and all participating council sites. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

Army (militia/volunteers/territorials)

In principle all volunteer (and later, territorial) regiments
were based on historic counties, so recruiting in Peterborough
would therefore have mainly been to various Northamptonshire units.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Huntingdonshire had no proper
county regiment, it usually being combined with Bedfordshire or
Hertfordshire.

The Militia

The Militia are the oldest 'volunteer' force, but they usually
trained once a year, and were intended to include all able-bodied
men aged between 18 and 45. They were independent until 1881 when
they were amalgamated with their appropriate county regiment,
usually forming its Third and/or Fourth Battalions, but the militia
ultimately went into 'suspended animation' in 1908. The following
archives/secondary sources for local militias are known to
exist:

Regiment name: Northamptonshire Militia 1763-1881

which then became the
Third and Fourth Battalions, Northamptonshire Regiment
1881-1908.
Examples of various printed forms, 1820-1825, in PMAG.

Printed sources:

The History of the Northamptonshire & Rutland Militia
[etc] 1756-1919 by C A Markham (1924).

Napoleonic Period

The French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars (which,
taken together, lasted from 1792 to 1815) were the incentive for
the next volunteer military units to be formed for home defence.
Again they were based on historic counties, and were either
yeomanry/cavalry or infantry. The locally-raised units tended to
emphasise the place-name in their title (rather than the county
name) which made them sound more independent than they really were!
They were stood down as soon as that threat passed. The following
archives/secondary sources for local units are known to exist:

Unit name: Northamptonshire Volunteer Yeomanry or Yeomanry
Cavalry.

(The Peterborough Company or Companies were in existence from
1794 to 1814).
Copy of Byelaws at Northamptonshire Record Office (Ref: YZ
7038).
Recruitment lists 1798 & 1803 in PMAG.

Unit name: Peterborough Cavalry and Volunteers

The Volunteers and Territorials

Further 'sabre-rattling' on the European continent in the
mid-nineteenth century brought a further wave of volunteer units
into being to defend the British Isles. These were most frequently
battalions of riflemen, but could also be [civil] engineers or
cavalrymen. Most of these volunteer regiments survived until new
government legislation came into force in 1908, when they
disbanded. The following archives/secondary sources for local units
are known to exist:

Unit name: Sixth Northamptonshire Rifle Volunteers.

[NOTE: The first Peterborough Company ('Eighth Coy') was raised
in 1867, and the second ('Ninth Coy') in 1872. When the Sixth
became the First Volunteer Battalion., Northamptonshire Regiment,
in 1881, the two Companies were re-designated 'G' and 'H'].
1860-78: Peterborough Coy: orders and circulars, nominal roll,
letters.
Held at Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery.

Printed sources:

The Rifle Volunteers 1859-1908 by Ray Westlake (1982);
pp118-119.History of the Northamptonshire Regiment 1742-1934 by
Russell Gurney (1935); pp314-321, & 375.A Short History of the Northants Battery (B/270 RFA) by
FEC Stanley (1926) pp9-10
1860-1908: regimental history including successor units held at
National Army Museum, Department of Archives Photographs Film and
Sound.

Unit name: First Northamptonshire Royal Engineer
Volunteers.

[NOTE: The "Royal" was added in 1896. The two Peterborough
Companies were raised in 1867 and 1900, respectively].
1888-1908: Peterborough Coy: orders and circulars, nominal roll,
letters.
Held at Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery.

Printed source:

A Short History of the Northants Battery (B/270 RFA) by F E C
Stanley (1926) pp9-10.
A volunteer battalion was raised in Huntingdonshire in 1900 and
attached to the Bedfordshire Regiment, becoming their Fifth
Battalion in 1908. These two battalions each had one Company based
in Fletton.

Unit names:

Fourth (Hunts) VB, Bedfordshire Regt 1900-1908

Fifth Battalion, Bedfordshire Regt (TF) 1908+

In 1914 most of the Huntingdonshire contingent left the
Bedfordshire Regiment and created their own independent battalion,
the Hunts Cyclists, with two Companies based in Fletton, and one in
Yaxley.

Hunts Cyclist Battalion 1914-c1919

Despite being a predominantly Huntingdonshire unit, the
Hunts Cyclists had a large proportion of Peterborough officers and
men. So after the War it was refounded as:

Fifth (Hunts) Battalion (T), Northants Regiment 1920-1946

Between 1926 and 1934 the Commanding Officers of this
battalion were Peterborough men, so the battalion HQ was
transferred from Huntingdon to Peterborough in 1927.

There are some photographs of the Cyclists Battalion dating
around 1914 in Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery.

Printed sources:

The History of the Fifth Battalion, The Bedfordshire and
Hertfordshire Regiment (TA) by FAM Webster. (Warne, 1930),
pp24-44.

History of the Northamptonshire Regiment 1742-1934 by
Russell Gurney (1935), pp337-338.

The legislation which came into force in 1908 created both the
Territorial Force (re-named The Territorial Army in 1921) and also
County Associations to support and administer them. Units of Field
Artillery initially took the place of the rifle and engineer
volunteers.

Unit name:

Fourth East Anglian Brigade, RFA, (TF) 1908-1916

which then became

270th Brigade, RFA, (TF) 1916-c1919

[NOTE: the above Brigades consisted of three Batteries, two
raised in Hertfordshire and the other in Northamptonshire. In fact
recruiting for this latter Battery took place almost solely in the
Peterborough area. After the War the 'Peterborough element' then
made up 336 Battery, one of four batteries in the following
successive Brigades]

First East Anglian Brigade RFA (TF) 1920-21

Eighty-fourth (East Anglian) Brigade RFA (TA) 1921-1938

Printed source:

A Short History of the Northants Battery (B/270 RFA) by
F E C Stanley (1926).

The Yeomanry

The Yeomanry Regiments often claimed continuity from the
volunteer units formed in the Napoleonic period. The only part of
the Northamptonshire Yeomanry to truly do this were the Squadrons
based in Kettering. All the others disbanded during the nineteenth
century, only to be re-founded in 1902. Unlike all the other
volunteer units, the Yeomanry survived the 1908 legislation, being
absorbed virtually unaltered into the Territorial Force/Army. After
the 1914-18 War they were refounded, but mostly with vehicles, not
horses.

Unit names: Northants Imperial Yeomanry 1902-1908

Which then became

Northants Yeomanry (TF) to c1919.

The Peterborough Squadron ('B' Squadron) was raised in 1902 from
within Peterborough, Oundle, and Huntingdonshire.
Records held at Northamptonshire Record Office (Ref: Acc
1988/380).

Printed sources:

Northamptonshire Yeomany 1794-1964 by H de L Cazenove
(1966) pp5-9.200 years of Peace and War: A History of the Northants Yeomany
by Lawrence & Hill.

The County Territorial Association

"Home Guard"

Unit titles:

Northamptonshire Home Guard: Peterborough Battalions
1940-1942.

Huntingdonshire Home Guard: Peterborough Battalions
1942-c1945.

Printed sources:

Stand Down: Orders of Battle for Units of the Home Guard of
the UK, Nov 1944 by L B Whittaker (1990) pp66,
86,104,121,125.The Northamptonshire Home Guard 1940-1945: A History
edited by B G Holloway (1949).